Hola de Hermana, 23/7/12

Hola mi familia asombrosa!

Two fotos this week!  Last week we were pleased as punch Hermana I asked us to climb one of her trees to cut off a flower stalk (this tree flowers rarely and the flowers can be sold for quite a bit).  While it worked out that Hna S was better equipped to hack with the machete than I was, it was still the first plant work I've done since pulling weeds in the CCM.  And climbing the tree in a skirt was a blast.  :)  :)  :)  I was very content.  And the other foto--Huck, I FOUND DRAGON FRUIT!  And now I understand why you told me the flavor was so mild.  It almost has no flavor.  So it makes since why the plant evolved to have such BRIGHT purple fruit--it knew the fruit didn't taste good for anything so it had to use color to attract the anamalitos to eat the fruit.  This is what biology does for a person.  :)  

This week was hard and good.  There is only a week until cambios, and I don't want to go.  I'm sort of in denial.  Practically all of our investigators are hiding from us.   So we're working as hard as we can to help them KNOW that we love them and we're not here to just chuck them in the baptismal faunt.  I've learned so much.  I've learned, finally, with only 8 months left, that I AM NOTHING without the Spirit.  There is NOTHING about ME that would ever ever EVER convert ANYONE.  And this is why obedience with exactness is so crucial.  Because when we're obedient we're able to have the constant companionship and gifts of the Holy Ghost.  So my incredible amazing friend and companion and I have started a "Forty Day Fast" abstaining from all the behaviors that are keeping us from having the full and constant companionship of the Holy Ghost.  I would appreciate your prayers for the strength to do this.  I've made a list, and it is extensive.  I need divine help remembering it all.

But again, I am so grateful for the beautiful gift our Savior gave us through His Atonement.  Through the process of repentance we apply His sacrifice in our lives and are made clean.  And we are able to move forward in our lives, and be happy.  And not only happy now, but happy for EVER as we change to become more like Him.  And the beautiful ordinance of the sacrament is how we renew our covenants with God every week.  Every Sunday.  I am so grateful.  Yesterday was a spiritual feast of love and learning during church, and I am so grateful for the blessing of knowing Father forgives us of our weaknesses when we do all we can to repent, and then we are made clean and move on.  I am so grateful.  

I testify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ LIVES!  He FULFILLED EVERYTHING He needed to do to save the children of men, and now it is up to us to do our part to choose to follow Him, apply His love and sacrifice in our lives, and be made perfect through Him.  And all this so that we can realize our potential as sons and daughters of the most powerful Father and Creator in the universe.  You have the potential to be a god and goddess.  And whatever sacrifice you need to make now to reach that incredible potential later is worth it.  

I LOVE YOU!  I BELIEVE IN YOU!  And more importantly, I testify of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  HE LIVES!

--Hermana Ivy [-]